In case you forgot, hundreds of Heat fans began exiting the arena with 28 seconds left in Game 6 and the Spurs leading by four points with Manu Ginobili heading to the free throw line. After a LeBron James three, a missed Spurs free throw and key plays by Chris Bosh and Ray Allen, the Heat somehow managed to tie the game and force overtime, where they would win and force a Game 7. And the “fans” who bailed on their team with the season on the line? They deserved to be stuck in the parking lot, the subject of ridicule from fellow Heat fans and the internet for their lack of faith.

With the Spurs up 15 with a little more than three minutes left in Game 3 Tuesday night, ABC’s cameras caught a number of the team’s fans pulling the same move.

Except it wasn’t the same move.

It’s one thing to bail on your team with 28 seconds left in an elimination game. Even if they manage to lose, you stick around, you applaud their efforts all season and you probably even stay to watch the other team get the trophy because it’s a cool sports moment. There’s no defending that.

In Game 3, the Heat had slightly narrowed a 21-point halftime margin, but every time Miami seemed to get a rally going during the fourth quarter, the Spurs would push the lead back just far enough that it never really felt like the Heat were in the game. After the Spurs’ incredible first-half offensive explosion made the 9 p.m. game seem even longer than it was, it’s understandable that some fans didn’t feel like waiting until the final moments of a non-elimination contest to watch Kawhi Leonard and company put the punctuation mark on a two and a half hour assault.

By the 1:36 mark, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra might as well have joined them, inserting Toney Douglas, Greg Oden and Udonis Haslem into the lineup as the team’s starters finally called it a night. There are going to be people pushing the narrative today that the Heat fans continue to be fair-weather because they decided to bail early during a blowout Tuesday night game that ended just before midnight. And there’s still a portion who fit that bill, just as there was the majority of the crowd who stuck around to watch an incredible Game 6 last year. But it’s not a fair comparison.
More of today’s big winners:Neymar: The Brazilian soccer star rescued an 8-year-old who wandered onto the field at the national team’s training ground.

Plenty of Heat fans left a Finals game early again. This time it’s hard to blame them.

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